Europe returned the favor to Tokyo by supporting the joint withdrawal of oil stocks

Japanese Industry Minister Ryusei Akazawa said yesterday that Europe returned the favor to Japan by agreeing last week to the joint withdrawal of oil stocks to ease the supply crisis and rising prices resulting from the war with Iran.

On Wednesday, the International Energy Agency agreed to withdraw 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves, an unprecedented level, in an attempt to calm crude oil prices after their sharp rise since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran on February 28.

Japan, which is a member of the Group of Seven and relies on Middle Eastern oil for about 90% of its supplies, said that it plans to withdraw about 80 million barrels from its private and national oil reserves as a contribution, as of March 16.

Akazawa stated, on the sidelines of the first Ministerial and Trade Forum on Energy Security in the Indo-Pacific region in Tokyo, that “Japan was able, during the meetings of the Group of Seven and the International Energy Agency last week, to change the minds of European leaders who were initially cautious about withdrawing from oil reserves because their dependence on the Strait of Hormuz is less.”

He said: “We realize that this is Europe’s return to Japan, which released oil to help Europe in a difficult time during the Ukraine crisis in 2022, in reference to the rise in oil prices and the supply crisis that followed the war between Russia and Ukraine four years ago.”

Japan has stopped buying oil from Russia since then, and has significantly increased its imports of liquefied natural gas from the United States, which currently amount to about 6% of Tokyo’s total imports, and Japanese companies continue to enhance their investments in the American energy sector.

US energy and industry officials gathered in Tokyo to attend the first Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Trade Forum, a forum led by US President Donald Trump’s National Energy Stewardship Council, to boost investments in Japan and Asia.

Yesterday, US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said at the opening of the event: “The United States of America has the ability to provide freedom of navigation and the flow of supplies. We have actually succeeded in completely removing two-thirds of Russian gas from Western Europe.”

He added: “Whether it is a matter of a strait in the Middle East or controlling supplies, supplies must be reliable, cost-effective and safe, which means that they come from partners you trust, who are able to fulfill their obligations.”